2016 was a Leap Year and I completed a project on February 29th, therefore, I ended my year one day early. So, consider this post as a conclusion to this year's project and an introduction to next year's project.
“A daily creative project is like a marathon. It’s a
ridiculously daunting task, but making an original creation every day gives you
an incredible sense of accomplishment. It also forces you to push beyond your
mental and physical barriers (especially the ones you’ve erected for
yourself).” – Noah Scalin
I can’t believe I’ve just completed my first marathon! Okay,
okay. I’m not a runner, so there’s no way I would survive a real marathon.
However, this year, I did a creative marathon which included two Creative
Sprints. Creative Sprints are month long creative explorations for those who
may not be ready for a marathon. 365 days is a long time, and doing something
every one of those days requires a large amount of dedication. I want to share
with you the journey of my Creative Marathon.
In December 2015, just after Christmas, I was window
shopping at the mall, when I walked past a used book store and a book on an end cap
display jumped out at me. That book was a 365: A Daily Creativity Journal:
Make Something Every Day and Change Your Life! By Noah Scalin. It isn’t a
big book; it’s about the size of your average novel. It doesn’t have a super artsy
cover, but for some reason it drew me in. So, I went into the store and started
flipping through the book. It is filled with daily prompts to help guide your
artistic journey. I thought to myself, ‘you could do this; make art every day
for a year.’ I wasn’t sure I wanted to shell out the $5.99 to buy the “Used”
book, but it was in great condition, and as far as I could tell it didn’t have
any markings in it. So I gave in, bought it and decided I would begin my
creative journey on January 1st.
That’s what I did! Every day since January 1st
2016, I have completed a creative project. Some days were really hard either creatively
when I couldn’t figure out what to make, or mentally when the task was too
daunting and I just wanted to skip a day. However, I took Noah’s advice from
the beginning of the book “Sharing Your Work: It may be tempting to keep your
daily project a secret, but having an audience can be an incredibly helpful and
rewarding part of the experience…Accountability: It’s much harder to give up on
a project when you feel like people actually care that you’re doing it.” While
this advice wasn’t written specifically for me, I think it may be the best
advice I’ve ever gotten. I am convinced
that I would have given up a long time ago if I hadn’t shared my work. I shared
my work on Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram. It was the likes and comments on
my posts that motivated me to keep going on the days that were really challenging.
As year went on, I began having friends and acquaintances stopping me on the
street to tell me how much they were enjoying my daily projects. Near the end
of the year I began getting one question a lot ‘You’re going to continue next
year, right?’
About half way through the year, I had decided I was going
to start on my next marathon right away, but it wasn’t until about mid-December
2016 that I had actually decided how I would continue. Even then, I kept it a
secret, only telling people ‘yes, I am going to continue.’ There were multiple
continuations that I considered. 1. Start again from the beginning. 2. Complete
the book again, in random order this time. 3. Complete the 64 Million Artists
January challenge, then complete the Bonus Month from the New + Expanded
edition of 365: A Daily Creativity Journal, and then just do something
every day and if I need help, choose a random day from the book.
I chose option 3 and I can’t wait to get started! As an
added challenge, I have decided to start this blog, showcasing my project.
